94 



are busy above the ground in carrying on this work, the moles 

 and shrews are equally busy in their chosen hunting-grounds in 

 destroying similar pests. It often happens that a single species 

 of insect at one stage of its development will inhabit the feeding 

 places of birds and be destroyed by them, and at another stage 

 will live in the ground and furnish food for the mammals. For 

 example, the insectivorous birds will pursue May-beetles, click- 

 beetles and owlet-moths while the moles and shrews will be dig- 

 ging for white-grubs, wire-worms and cut-worms, which are but 

 the immature forms of the same insects. When opportunity 

 offers, however, the moles and shrews will not object to craunch- 

 ing a May-beetle or other adult insect any more than a robin 

 will object to swallowing a white-grub or cut-worm. 



GENERAL STATEMENTS. 



There is a notable lack of literature on the life-histories and 

 habits of moles and shrews, as well as of several of our com- 

 mon mice. The meadow mice have received considerable atten- 

 tion from investigators and writers in recent years, and an 

 excellent bulletin has just been published by Mr. David E. 

 Lantz, of the United States Biological Survey, entitled ''An 

 Economic Study of Field Mice." This bulletin gives a com- 

 prehensive account of the distribution, habits and methods of 

 combating three species of meadow mice ; namely, the Common 

 Meadow Mouse, Microtus pennsylvanicus. the Prairie Meadow 

 Mouse, Microtus ochrogaster, and the Pine Mouse, Microtus 

 pinetorum scalopsoides. The bulletin may be read very profit- 

 ably by any one who is interested in these rodents. 



The secretive ways of these little mammals make it a diffi- 

 cult matter to observe accurately their habits, and there is yet 

 much to be learned pertaining to the economic importance of 

 most of them. This paper does not set forth the final results 

 of the work along this line which has been planned by the ento- 

 mological department of the Experiment Station. It has been 

 prepared partly by compilation and partly from original obser- 

 vations, and is being sent out with the hope of stimulating an 



